UNIT 3 - Reading and Writing as Community Action

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Unit Description

Students continue to work in the strands that weave throughout the course. The issues of community introduced in Unit 2 are used to focus on informational reading and writing. Students explore how reading skills are essential to access the practical information necessary to living in a community. Students research and evaluate practical informational writing on online community websites, where possible, and explore examples of how reading and writing skills can effect significant local and global change. Students use a variety of writing forms, including letters that express an opinion, to participate as responsible citizens in local or global communities.

Activity 3.1: Community Information


Activity 3.1a


  • Listen to a short audio lecture I will provide for you in class.
  • In pairs, discuss the challenges involved in listening.
  • In pairs, brainstorm a list of how oral language differs from written language. Some responses include tone, nonverbal communication, volume, word choice, and level of language. Define each of these. Speech, for instance, often has a less formal tone than writing.
  • How did you show that you were interested when you were listening to your partner? List 5 ways you can show interest during a conversation.
  • Answer as a post in the general section of your blog: How do the differences between oral and written speech affect how students listen?
  • In pairs, brainstorm, list, discuss and create a post of the kinds of listening strategies you might use at work, home, and school.
  • Discuss with an adult relative, employer, or neighbour the kinds of talking, reading, listening, and writing that are part of this person’s job. Take notes on the content of the discussion.

Activity 3.1b

  • Assume the role of a language scientist, investigator, or detective during the guests’ visit. You are listening and learning to describe the kind of reading, writing, and speaking done by a guest speaker in his or her job and in the presentation to the class.
  • What appropriate questions could you use to gather information beyond the guest speakers’ prepared text? Here are some below. In your blog, add 3 to the list.
    • How did you adjust your content and language for a student audience?
    • How did the reading, writing, and speaking you did in school prepare you for the skills you need in this position?
    • How do you use reading, writing, and speaking to better act in the interests of your community?
    • What kinds of reading strategies do you use in your work?
    • What kinds of writing and graphic materials and writing strategies do you create or use frequently in your work?
    • If you could give any advice to us, what would it be?

  • Take point-form notes on the content of the presentation as well as the language used by the speaker. See – Guide for Taking Notes.pdf (found on the CHECKLISTS page).
  • After the presentation, refer to your notes as we discuss the levels of language, word choice, and tone used by the speakers as well as in their writing samples. How effectively did each speaker adjusted his or her level of language to suit a student audience?
  • I will collect your notes and assess how well you understood the guest speakers’ presentations.

Activity 3.2: Taking Action


Activity 3.2a

  • You will be seeking and reading “how to” information provided in a community, such as leases, application forms, etc.
  • What kinds of information do members of a community seek. Such as:
    • How do you find out about…?
    • How do you gain access to…?
    • How do you apply for…?
  • Brainstorm a list of sources of written information available to the local community. Some examples include employment offices, information kiosks at shopping malls, community bulletin boards in supermarkets, municipal offices, post offices, hospitals, licensing offices, riding offices of elected representatives, libraries, community centres, schools, municipal websites, local newspapers, etc.
  • In small groups, gather a variety of community materials and apply reading strategies to determine the types of information that are of most use and interest to you.
  • Using the chart below, create an action plan to access and acquire community-related information pertinent to your areas of interest.
Sample Action Plan


Who
(group member responsible)
What
(information to find)
Where
When
How
(contact person, steps to take)

Income tax form
Driver’s Licence
 Post office
Local licensing offices
 After school today
 Search the web
Phone book

Recycling and garbage collection
 Municipal websites
 At lunch, using the Internet
 Telephone

  • Before you gather your information, predict the format of the information and record it on a Predictions Chart. Under Prediction, list the format that they expect to find in the texts. After you have gathered and read your texts, place a check mark where your predictions were true in the After column.
  • Discuss how to approach members of the public, using the appropriate level of language. Rehearse in partners introducing themselves, explaining their purpose, and requesting the information.
  • Before visiting your chosen locations, you should telephone to set up an appointment, if required. Discuss protocol for telephone use, e.g., how to ask questions respectfully, respond graciously, and work from scripted questions. Discuss, plan, and rehearse with your group members what you will say on the telephone.
  • Carry out your action plans.
  • Using the think aloud reading strategy, independently read a sample of community information you found in your research. See – Reading a Text Sample.pdf (found on the CHECKLISTS page).
  • In your group, preview, scan, and read their texts. Identify the types of materials and decide the best reading approaches for these materials, such as previewing the text, skimming, and scanning.
  • Include:
    • strategies for reading unfamiliar vocabulary;
    • pre-reading strategies to preview the features of new information texts and to build on prior knowledge;
    • scanning the text to locate graphic or visual elements and reading these first to discover main ideas in the print text;
    • using strategies to monitor comprehension and record ideas while reading information texts
  • Use your reading approaches and other strategies to read the text and record your information in point-form notes or on a graphic organizer.
  • Orally present your information to the class, displaying the publications that you worked from, explaining how you acquired them, and describing the reading strategies you used to understand the forms.
  • To consolidate your understanding of the information you acquired from the group, individually work through the stages of the writing process, translating your oral presentation into a summary.
  • Submit your summaries for evaluation and add to the literacy portfolio. See – Learning Journal Rubric.

Activity 3.3: Community Action


  • Do any of the information texts that you gathered in the previous activity relate to local matters pertaining to building better communities, and, if so, what they are. What specific issues promote community spirit and responsibility, e.g., recreational facilities, community festivities, safe neighbourhoods, recycling, personal health and fitness, parks and public spaces, tourism, safe and reliable transportation. Reflect on the personal value of the experiences gained through your community service.
  • Brainstorm lists of ways to make your community better. Identify the audiences to whom they might express an opinion about a situation and suggest a change. Audiences might include councillors, landlords, charities, service clubs, newspaper editors, local and regional managers, band councils, religious mentors, civic leaders, etc.
  • We will examine sample formal letters in class.
    • Identify the specific features of form and style: word choice, formal level of language, conventions of standard Canadian English, that make the letters appropriate to the purpose and audience.
    • Identify the opinion or main idea expressed in the letter and the supporting detail. Which letters provide information, which summarize information, which express an opinion, and which provide a narrative.
  • Remember the key elements of a series of paragraphs expressing an opinion in letters are:
    • a clear, concise opinion statement
    • accurate information, including reasons and supporting details, appropriate to their audience
    • the best order of their ideas and examples – discard irrelevant ideas, information, and transitions
    • the conventions of opinion texts, such as use of first person
    • completeness, clarity, and coherence
  • There are ways of presenting an opinion effectively and of ensuring their request for change is positively received, e.g., by describing positive aspects of a situation first, acknowledging difficulties in achieving a perfect situation, providing balanced rationale, and providing practical suggestions for implementation.
  • Using the writing process, write a formal letter to voice your ideas, to have a voice in your community, and to contribute to the common good.
  • Revise your work, making sure that you have met the needs of their audience, fulfilled your purpose, and used the structure of the formal letter.
  • Read your letter aloud to a partner, checking for clarity, organization, and formal tone. Peer-editors check the content of each piece:
    • Is the writing clear?
    • Can the ideas be placed in a better order?
    • Is there any information that needs to be added or omitted?
    • Do any sentences need to be simplified or elaborated?
  • Using feedback, edit with an emphasis on clarity, checking your mechanics (spelling, grammar, structure, etc).
  • Make final revisions, format your formal letter appropriately in a readable font and type size, and add it to your literacy portfolio.

Activity 3.4: Making a Difference


Activity 3.4a

  • Thinking about Global Issues: Building on work in Unit 2, individually create a thought web identifying global issues you feel strongly enough about to take action, take a stand, or support publicly.
  • We will incorporate these into a class web.
  • I will distribute a series of news articles on a variety of global issues.
  • Scan the news articles to identify the issues and report back to the class identifying main and supporting ideas, which you add to the class web.

Activity 3.4b

  • In groups, using a graphic organizer, identify four issues you consider most significant in the left-hand column, suggest solutions for these problems in the middle column, and individually rate the degree of your possible personal involvement and contribution to the solution in the right-hand column. Discuss how powerful or powerless you perceive youth to be in solving these problems.
  • Read an informational text about an individual who makes a difference. Apply reading strategies as you read the text independently. Students answer questions about the text demonstrating their understanding of the three reading strategies.
  • Create a summary based on the problem-solution aspect of the text:
    • What problem does the text identify?
    • What do people do or say in response, as action/solution?
    • What role do speaking, reading, and writing play in raising awareness and implementing solutions?

Activity 3.4c

  • Watch a couple of short documentaries in class. Focus on how:
    • literacy is a key component in community building;
    • literacy is itself a means of being pro-active.
  • Review the films: What is the problem? What do people do to respond to or deal with the problem? What role do speaking, reading, and writing play?

Activity 3.4d

  • Researching Individuals Who Made a Difference: practise reading skills and strategies by researching an individual who has made a positive difference in the international community. You may use both print and electronic sources for this activity. Practise proper citation of research sources. See Citing Sources (found on the CHECKLISTS page).
  • Choose one of the following people: Craig Kielburger, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Sir Edmund Hillary, Nelson Mandela, and Jacques Cousteau. Answer these questions:
    • Who is the person?
    • What were the issues or problems that person set out to solve?
    • What actions did the person take?
    • What role did reading, writing, speaking play in increasing public awareness of the issue and encouraging change?
  • Submit note-taking and citations for assessment. Retain these notes and citations for possible use in the Culminating Activity for this unit.

Activity 3.4e

  • Researching Online Safety: Explain the importance of being aware of online safety issues.
  • Brainstorm problems to be aware of with Internet use, e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, newsgroups, online shopping, file-sharing, online registration, etc.
  • Select an aspect of online safety for research.
  • Plan your approach to the reading and research, e.g., working in pairs, assuming responsibility for reading a particular website, assuming group work roles of investigator, recorder, etc.
  • Create a note-taking graphic on which to record information about the nature, potential dangers, and safety strategies associated with the aspect of the World Wide Web selected.
  • Groups collate your research and report back to the class using Online Safety and Ethics (found on the CHECKLISTS page).

Activity 3.4f (where Internet access is available)

  • Evaluating Global Community Agency Websites: Browse three or four sites, scanning to get a sense of their visual characteristics and the effectiveness of their community-support on the website.
  • Brainstorm the qualities that make a website effective. Cluster criteria, for example, under appearance (colour, layout, font size, complementary balance of text and visuals), navigation (menus, site maps, title bars, pop ups, links), authority (author/sponsor, currency, corroboration, opinion versus fact, errors and bias).
  • Create a checklist of criteria for evaluating websites.
  • Individually choose a global community agency website, preview the site and its features, and select key pages to focus on. Read these pages and apply the website evaluation criteria developed in class.
  • Contribute to a comparative ranking of the websites you visited.
  • Re-focus on the global community agency website you examined and complete an organizing graphic that helps you summarize what the website’s purposes are, how attractive and easy-to-navigate the website is, and how effectively the website supports its chosen community. Submit the organizer for assessment and retain in your literacy portfolio for possible use in the Culminating Activity.

Activity 3.5: Culminating Activities


Activity 3.5a

  • You now have an opportunity to choose a topic and writing form, creatively adapt your research to that form, and demonstrate reading skills through your writing and a brief conference. Projects can be displayed in the classroom as evidence of your interests and reading and writing skills.
  • Choose one of the following: your research on an individual who makes a difference (see Activity 3.4d), your research on a website dedicated to online safety (see Activity 3.4e), or your research on a global agency website (Activity 3.4f).
  • If your choose to develop your research on an individual who makes a difference, select one of the following forms, focusing on who the individual is, what issue the individual confronted, and what the individual did in response to the issue:
    • a summary paragraph, complemented by graphic elements, for a page in an appropriate secondary school textbook on the individual
    • a news report, for an online news site, complemented by a graphic element, focusing on the individual
    • a series of paragraphs expressing an opinion in the form of an editorial for a student newspaper, including a graphic element on the individual
    • an information paragraph for a magazine, e.g., an issue honouring People Who Make a Difference in the World, including a graphic element.
  • Or if your choose to focus on an agency dedicated either to online safety or to global humanitarian issues, select one of the following forms:
    • a summary paragraph describing the functions and services of the agency investigated, e.g., Cyberangels.org, Media-Awareness.ca
    • an information paragraph advising a particular audience how to stay safe while interacting on the web OR describing a specific form of online participation, e.g., chat rooms, advantages, dangers, and ways to stay safe
    • a fictionalized newspaper report of how Cyberangels has helped someone who has been harassed in cyberspace
    • a series of paragraphs evaluating the effectiveness of a global agency’s website and suggesting a way to enhance its website’s community support
    • a double-page spread suitable for a secondary school textbook educating students about the global agency or about a global humanitarian issue
  • Identify your purpose, target audience, and the distinguishing features of the selected writing form. Organize items for a revision checklist so that it serves as an organizer for your draft.
  • Individually, write a draft.
  • Help one another revise by applying the checklist criteria and perhaps adding to it.
  • Edit your work using items identified on their revising/editing checklist sheet.
  • Display your polished projects in the room as a celebration of your reading and writing skills.
  • In your learning journals, identify reading and writing skills used to complete this research task and describe how this research task demonstrates growth from the beginning of the course. Add this learning journal to your literacy portfolio after evaluation.

Activity 3.5b

  • Demonstrate reading skills on a teacher-selected text relevant to unit themes by answering a series of questions.
  • I will distribute a set of questions about the passage which test the three reading skills and comprehension of the passage.